The new V8SuperTourer racing series has been further boosted with news that full coverage of each of the seven V8SuperTourer rounds will screen on TV3’s Gillette Motorsport show in 2012.

The exclusive broadcast package ensures the inaugural season of V8SuperTourer racing will be free-to-air on TV3 nationwide.

John McIntyre, spokesperson for New Zealand’s newest V8 racing series, says the exclusive coverage allows fans of the new ‘V8 Series of Champions’ to see all the race action on the Sunday of each round. Another significant move is that the third race of each of the four sprint rounds and the main race of each of the three endurance rounds will screen live during the show’s 2pm to 5pm slot.

“We have been working on a suitable package since April this year, so it’s very pleasing to have signed with TV3, which has truly established itself as New Zealand’s ‘home of motorsport’,” says McIntyre who is also one of the V8SuperTourer team owners and drivers, and a three-time New Zealand V8 touring car champion.

From each of the four sprint rounds, Gillette Motorsport will provide delayed coverage of race one from Saturday and race two on Sunday, before screening the weekend’s third and final race live.

From each of the three endurance rounds, which feature one main race on Sunday, the entire race will screen live.

McIntyre adds: “The Gillette Motorsport team will also make sure fans can enjoy lots of behind-the-scenes detail of all 16 drivers, teams and the technical aspects of the cars from our inaugural season.”

The confirmed competitors in the seven round 2012 V8SuperTourers series are: Greg Murphy (Melbourne), John McIntyre (Nelson), Andy Booth (North Shore, Auckland), Paul Manuell (Pukekohe), Kayne Scott (Hamilton), Craig Baird, MNZM, (Gold Coast), Andre Heimgartner (Howick, Auckland), Ant Pedersen (Hamilton), Andy Knight (Christchurch), Eddie Bell (Christchurch), Daniel Gaunt (Melbourne), Scott McLaughlin (Gold Coast), Colin Corkery (North Shore) and Richard Moore (Auckland).

V8 SuperTourer teams are now looking ahead to the upcoming months of race car construction and testing before racing gets underway at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park over the weekend of 17 to 19 February. Further sprint rounds are run at Powerbuilt Tools Raceway in Christchurch at the end of March, at Manfeild in Feilding in late April and then back at Hampton Downs in late May. Each of the sprint rounds features a sprint race on Saturday and two sprint races on Sunday. Three endurance rounds take the teams to Taupo Motorsport Park, Hampton Downs and back to Christchurch’s Powerbuilt Tools Raceway, with an overall V8SuperTourer champion being declared from the two-part series.

It’s now official that the V8 Supercars racing series will take its brand of motorsport to Austin, Texas in 2013. The news follows on from the Austin city council announcement that the USA Grand Prix Formula One race will also be held at its Circuit of the Americas.

V8 Supercars officials along with Texas Governor Rick Perry and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh announced the five-year arrangement to bring the racing series to the States.

V8 Supercars joins the already existing 10-year agreements Circuit of The Americas has to host the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix beginning in 2012 and MotoGP World Championship
beginning in 2013. This first purpose-built Grand Prix facility in the United States is currently under construction in the city.

The V8 Supercars Texas race will consist of two 200-km races and will be televised live and in full throughout North and South America. (more…)

Colin Corkery is the latest in a long string of drivers to announce their intentions to compete in New Zealand’s newest race series, the V8SuperTourers.

Corkery will join the Penrose-based Racing Projects Team of Nigel Barclay. He will campaign a Falcon alongside Kayne Scott who will be driving a Holden. The new series gets underway at Hampton Downs over the weekend of 17 to 19 February next year.

Like the V8SuperTourer competitors confirmed to date, Corkery is an experienced V8 touring car driver. After a successful karting career he raced in both the NZV8 Development Series and NZV8s before crossing the Tasman to spend two years in the Australian V8 Ute Series. During that time the Kiwi scored several podium finishes including a race win at the Winton Motor Raceway in 2008. In 2009 Corkery competed in the Australian V8 Supercar Development Series. His last major New Zealand appearance came more than 12 months ago when he was a leading contender in the NZV8 Ute trans-Tasman test match on the streets of Hamilton. (more…)